“It’s always been Joy for you, hasn’t it?” said Rosamund gently.
Maidie nodded.
“I didn’t know it was so obvious. I hoped…”
“You hoped that no one knew?”
“Yes. I can’t bear the thought that anyone should know, Ros – Joy least of all. I know she will never feel the same about me.”
“No one else knows, Maidie.”
Maidie looked at her with tragic dark eyes.
“But if you realised, why won’t anyone else?”
She turned and fled through the light summer evening to the Abbey, to cry alone, Ros suspected.
“Oh Maidie,” she said sadly to her friend’s back, “can’t you see it’s because I feel the same way about you?”
Grease Sandy/Danny, Sandy/Rizzo PG
Sandy had never met a girl like Rizzo before. She knew she ought to be repeleed, especially after she walked in on the other girl mocking her to her own friends. And after all, Rizzo was all that Sandy’s parents had warned her against. Unlike Danny, who had seemed so nice – so sweet - when she’d met him first
Of course, he had changed later, at school. He had become stand-offish; all too conscious of his male friends’s approval all the time. Not at all like Rizzo, who didn’t care (“didn’t give a damn,” Rizzo herself would have said, though Sandy shied away from such scandalous language) what anyone thought. She admired Rizzo the more when she saw Danny playing up to his audience.
But… what would that make her, Sandy, if she had falled in love with Rizzo? Sandy fought the thought – fought and won, transferring Rizzo’s care-not attitude onto Danny. Of course he loved her, and of course he was just being himself, not showing off for his friends. She would have to change, because he was the one for her. He was the one that she wanted…
Malory Towers Gwendoline PG 189 words
Summer was the best time at Malory Towers. Everyone was agreed on that. The evenings stretched out forever, with tennis, walks, or sometimes just conversation in the sunken garden. During the day time the garden was almost too hot; but by early evening it came into its own as a place to sit and chat. Everyone sat around with their best friend, swapping stories, secrets and dreams; giggling together or comforting each other in their woes.
Everyone except Gwendoline.
Gwendoline had no best friend. As she watched Daphne and Mary-Lou talking in low, excited voices, she felt a wave of self-pity sweep over her. Both of the pair had been her friend once, before the meanness of other people (never herself) took them away from her. Her eyes moved on to where Bill and Clarissa had slumped down after a mammoth ride across country with their friend Miss Peters. Clarissa, too, had been supposed to be her friend, yet now she barely bothered to say hello.
Summer the best time? Gwendoline let out a snort of derision as she turned the pages of her book, alone as always.
In The Night Garden Tombliboos, Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka U 171 words
One summer night, the Tombliboos were playing outside in the garden.
“Can we go with you, Tombliboos?”
They are nodding!
And look, the Tombliboos have run into the woods. Oh! Where have they gone? I can see Tombliboo ‘Um’ – but where are Tombliboo ‘Ee’ and Tombliboo ‘Oo’?
“Can you see them? No?”
Who is that behind the bush. Is that a Tombliboo? Oh, it is Iggle Piggle.
“Can you see the Tombliboos, Iggle Piggle?”
Iggle Piggle is nodding.
“How many Tombliboos can you see, Iggle Piggle?”
Iggle Piggle is holding up two fingers.
“Oh look. There is Tombliboo ‘Um’ AND Tombliboo ‘Ee’! But where is Tombliboo ‘Oo’?”
Is that him coming towards us? No, it’s Makka Pakka.
“Hello Makka Pakka!”
Makka Pakka is waving.
“Can you see the Tombliboos, Makka Pakka?”
Makka Pakka is nodding.
“How many Tombliboos can you see?”
Makka Pakka is holding up three fingers.
“Oh, look. There are ALL of the Tombliboos! Hurray!”
The Tombliboos are waving at Iggle Piggle and Makka Pakka.
“Isn’t that a pip?”
Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons) TNG – invented characters U 345 words
“I got here first. I’m first to mount Everest!”
“No, I did. I’m first!”
Their elders smiled at each other in mutual understanding. Of course, they remembered the days when they were so competitive, but – that was far too long ago.
“It was me, wasn’t it, Sue?”
“I think it was a dead heat,” George said, smiling at the younger ones, Sally and Charles as they turned for validation.
“Oh, but…”
“No, it was…”
Both children raised their voices in protest.
“Wait!” Charles had stopped, his fingers tugging at a rock. “What’s this?”
Behind the rock lay a box, the beginnings of rust curling at its corners. The others crowded round, suddenly silent. Charles opened the box. There was a sheet of paper, clearly old. It crackled as they unfolded it.
August 11th. We climbed Kanchenjunga.
The list of names beneath were familiar to all of the children. Captain John and Mate Peggy – father and mother of three of the explorers. Captain Nancy, Boy Roger – their aunt and uncle. Able-Seaman Titty – Sally’s mother. Then the name that made them stare and stare again. Mate Susan.
“But that’s Auntie,” Charles said, his normally high-pitched voice a whisper.
“My namesake.”
Sue could not take her eyes from the paper. Susan was a name only to them all – the once-upon-a-time that their lives were based on. She had died in the Second World War, a nurse on the Front. She was someone to be admired, like the people in history books – but somehow now she seemed alive in a way she never had before. She had been here. Here. Signing her name, underneath their father’s. A real, live Susan. Their aunt.
“And on the back…” Sally said, her own voice lowered.
August the 2nd. 1901.
“Why…” George’s mouth fell open. “Why, that’s Gran. Gran, and grandfather, and Great-Uncle Flint!”
“Gran,” repeated Sally, awed.
George raised his head.
“And now us. We climbed Everest. And we’ll add our names to this, and someday… someday,” (and his voice was quieter despite himself) “maybe our children will read the same thing…”
Harry Potter Draco and Goyle PG 64 words
It was midsummer at Hogwarts; therefore in Slytherin there was betting to be done.
“Heads I win, tails… um, I win,” mumbled Gregory Goyle, holding a bronze knut aloft.
“Goyle, you moron, that’s not right.”
“Oh. Er, heads you win, tails I lose.”
“Done,” said Draco promptly.
It was a long time later before Gregory realised that he was the one who’d been done.
GIFT for irana Harry Potter Neville/Draco PG 484 words
The long summer night stretched out before him. Neville still hadn’t really come to terms with the fact that life was never going to be the same. Especially he hadn’t come to terms with the fact that he was seen as something of a hero, rather than the figure of fun and mockery that he’d always thought himself.
He was going to repeat seventh year again the coming term. What with one thing and another… well, he hadn’t really got anywhere with his NEWTS the previous school year. But there were a lot of other people in the same position, he consoled himself. No one was going to pick on him because of that.
Actually, possibly no one was going to pick on him at all, he remembered again with a start. Not even Draco Ma…
Draco Malfoy.
Neville wondered briefly whether Draco really was the devil in disguise. After all, think of the devil and he arrives – and who had just walked across the park, heading in his direction?
Draco Malfoy.
And Neville was not going to blanch. He was not going to run away. He was not, damn it, going to let Malfoy put him down in any way. Though… now he came to look at the other boy, it seemed less likely than he’d anticipated that Draco would try. In fact, he wasn’t even sure that Malfoy had seen him at all, even though he was seconds away from falling over him. Draco looked dismal. Even his hair looked depressed. Neville hadn’t realised that hair could look depressed, but Draco’s was managing. Suddenly, he was hit with an odd wave of sympathy for his old enemy.
“Hello Malfoy,” he said quietly.
The look of shock in Malfoy’s face showed Neville that Draco most certainly had not registered his presence. Malfoy nodded briefly and went to walk on.
“Do you want a butterbeer?” Neville asked, not quite sure why he was asking.
Draco hesitated, then
“Thanks.”
He sat down next to Neville, and the silence between them was almost visible.
“How are you?” It was an inane question, Neville knew, but he wasn’t sure that he could cope with much more of the silence. Malfoy had snapped off the butterbeer lid, but was holding it in his hands, not drinking.
“Yeah.” And that wasn’t much of an answer, either.
Neville sighed, and went back to drinking his own butterbeer. It was strangely nice to have company, though, even if it was a rather silent and morose Draco Malfoy who was sitting at his side. The sun was making shadows between the waving leaves on the trees; shadows that flickered and changed. Whispers. It reminded Neville of how easily the world could change around you.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he offered at last; and Draco looked up from his earnest contemplation of his drink and gave a tiny but real smile.
“Me too.”
GIFT FOR emiime Harry Potter Percy/Neville PG 122 words
“I was… looking at the flowers.”
“I was admiring the view.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, well, I’m glad we’ve got that sorted,” said Percy, trying to sound nonchalent. “So. How have you been? Obviously I know about…”
“Yes,” Neville interrupted, his face reddening. “But anyway…”
“Yes.”
There was silence.
“I…” They both spoke at once.
“Sorry, you say.”
“No, you,” said Percy.
Neville gulped.
“I… um… admired your courage in coming back. I… I don’t think I would have…”
“Yes, well,” Percy said hastily. “You killed the snake, didn’t you? I mean - The snake.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Neville said apologetically. “At least, I did, but…”
“Look,” said Percy, his breathing faster than usual, “why don’t we just shut up talking and kiss?”
Harry Potter Oliver/Percy PG 212 words
Oliver had a hand either side of Percy’s head, against the tree, as he leaned in and kissed him. Percy, his glasses askew, had his eyes closed and was breathing stertorously through his nose as the two shared a kiss that seemed to last forever.
Marcus Flint, grinning trollishly, stopped walking to watch. Both boys seemed so engrossed in their… business… that they didn’t realise they were not alone Flint had a ringside view.
When they surfaced and Percy had straightened his specs, the first thing he saw was not the muscular body of his Quidditch-loving boyfriend but – over Oliver’s shoulder – the dark saturnine face of Flint.
“Thought they said you were only interested in Quidditch, Wood,” the Slytherin grunted. “Seems they were wrong. I’m sure lots of people would be fascinated to know what really turns you on.” Oliver sprang away from Percy and turned to face Marcus, fists raised. Flint ignored him and looked at Percy. “Seems the rumours about you, Weasley, were all true, though,” he leered.
It would have taken more than Flint’s weak wand work to save him from two angry Gryffindors. Of course, memory charms were outlawed at Hogwarts… but sometimes there had to be exceptions made. Sometimes, even Percy was known to bend the rules…
GIFT FOR asphodeline Harry Potter Lily/Severus PG 449 words
“Severus!”
He did not look pleased to see her. Lily wasn’t used to that. Usually everyone – teachers, students, whoever – welcomed her. Except Petunia, that was. Lily felt her heart twist a little at the thought of her sister. If only magic wands worked in the way they did in books, she’d have made Tuney a witch in a second. But they didn’t, and she couldn’t, and Tuney couldn’t forgive her.
But Severus, who was known by everyone else to be the most sullen, sarcastic of boys, had always liked seeing her, so this was a shock to the system. And Lily being Lily, she didn’t hide her feelings.
“What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, and I’m a Muggle. What’s up?”
Severus kicked at the ground.
“Mulciber says he saw you kissing Potter.”
Oh! Lily almost laughed. The James Thing again. She didn’t even like James Potter that much, but the thought that she had ever had anything to do with him sent Severus into spasms.
“That’s right,” she said, off-handedly. Then she saw the expression on Severus’s face; the hurt that he couldn’t quite hide from her, and she relented. “It was a bet.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, Sev! Don’t they do betting in Slytherin? I’m sure they do. Look, it was just silly. James was after me again to go out with him, and Angie said that he wouldn’t want to if I kissed him because he was only out for what he could get.”
“And?”
Lily laughed.
“I said ‘how much do you bet?’ and it went from there. I couldn’t lose. If she was right, I’d get Potter off my back, and if she wasn’t, I won. Seemed a good plan to me. So I kissed him. And,” she added, with a slight show of temper, “I’d like to know what Mulciber was doing hanging around spying on people, by the way. I wish you wouldn’t hang out with him, Sev. He’s poisonous.”
“He talks to me,” Severus mumbled.
Lily flashed a glance at him. Had he really said that? She didn’t push the point, though. Although they were close, Severus loathed having his privacy invaded by anyone, even Lily.
“Are you really that hung up on me kissing James?” she demanded.
“Suppose not.”
Funny how people saw Severus differently to the way Lily saw him. He was a poor liar, in her estimation. She reached out and took his hand.
“Why don’t we even it up?” she suggested.
“What?”
She smiled.
“We need mistletoe.”
“Lily, it’s July!”
“We’ll have to improvise, then.”
She waved her wand and a large clump of mistletoe hovered in the air between them. She looked at him mischievously.
“Lily…”
“Happy Christmas, Severus,” she said; and kissed him.
Harry Potter Sirius, James G 52 words
“I hate summer,” Sirius said moodily, kicking at the dry earth at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
“Thought you said that about winter six months ago?”
“I did.” Sirius turned to his friend and gave him a quick reluctant grin. “Oh for God’s sake, Prongs, just let me sulk in peace!”
Harry Potter James/Remus, implied Sirius/Remus PG 253 words
“He’s not bad looking, is he?” commented James, lying back in the shade of a tree as the summer evening warmed the ground beneath him, even as the sun itself began to fade.
“Who?” Sirius demanded.
James laughed.
“Who do you think? Remus.”
“Suppose.”
“No, it’s true. He is.”
“What does it matter to you, anyway?” Sirius asked dispassionately. “You’ve been all over Evans as long as I’ve known you, pretty much.”
“Give me a break! Anyway, the amount of notice Lily takes of me I might just as well not have bothered. The way she slimes over Snivels makes me sick. I’m sick of her, sick of them all. Thought it might be easier with a guy.”
“You? With Remus?” Sirius laughed, but it sounded forced. “Don’t make me laugh!”
“Why not?” James rolled over and leaned on one elbow to look at his best friend. “D’you reckon he’s straight? I always thought he might be celibate, cos I’ve never seen him look at a girl. Then I thought – maybe I’d got my eyes in wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the girls he was looking at.”
“Oh, give over.” Sirius snorted, his own eyes fixed on the solitary figure of Remus Lupin, bent over a book and frowning in concentration. “As if Remus would look at you!”
“Oh, that’s charming, that is!” retorted James. “What, are you saying I’m not attractive?”
“Moony has better taste.”
“Yeah? Like who?”
“Like no one,” said Sirius, standing up and striding away; but James didn’t believe him.